Cubans still recovering from months of hours-long blackouts now have a new problem: a lack of fuel.
Many gas stations across the island have been closed for days as an exceptionally severe shortage has left the country almost without gasoline and diesel, stranding drivers and creating seemingly endless queues at pumps in Havana.
“We’ve been waiting for three days for a fuel truck to arrive,” said Armando Corrales, from the driver’s seat of his gray Kia SUV at a gas station in the capital.
“Here people slept in line so as not to lose their place.”
The latest crisis comes on the heels of three nationwide blackouts in two months that left millions of people in the dark for days, prompting the government to temporarily close schools and nonessential industries.
Cuba has yet to provide an explanation for the latest deficit.
Only a small amount of fuel was offered in Havana as of Wednesday, according to a government app that tracks deliveries to individual gas stations.
Authorities have previously blamed the fuel shortage on the decades-old U.S. trade embargo, which complicates Cuba’s financial transactions and makes it difficult for the government to buy fuel on the spot market.
Cuba’s longtime allies have reduced fuel shipments this year. According to data and tanker tracking documents from Venezuelan state company PDVSA, Venezuela sent 44% less crude oil and fuel to the Caribbean island in the January-November period.
Mexico, which has become a regular supplier to the island, has been part of the difference. But both Venezuela and Mexico mostly send crude oil to Cuba, whose aging refineries must use it to produce gasoline and diesel for cars, trucks and generators.
Source: Terra
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